Roxas
(Note: This character is now part of his true self. This page only covers Roxas' time in the multiverse up until he becomes Ventus again.) "Maybe redemption isn't about just righting the wrongs of the past after all." —Roxas Roxas is a major character from the Kingdom Hearts series of cross-platform video games. Although appearing originally as an enigmatic figure in a secret video at the end of the original Kingdom Hearts, he goes on to become a playable character in the tutorial segment of Kingdom Hearts II and is the central playable character in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. As the Nobody of the series' main protagonist, Sora, Roxas holds great significance within the games, and is found to be a special nobody because he can wield the Keyblade and seems to posses real emotions. Although he eventually rejoins with his former self, he persists as a semi-separate entity, and bears a striking resemblance to another character - Ventus - who appears in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. The player behind Roxas is one of the head administrators of Celestial Refresh. Combining with the time played as Sora, Roxas has been in existence since the very creation of the forum, and has been played by the same person since then. Background "Sora, you're lucky. Looks like my Summer vacation is...over.." —Roxas, upon reuniting with Sora moments before they were brought into the multiverse. Roxas was born late in Sora’s first journey of the Keyblade, spawned from Sora’s body when he stabbed himself with Riku’s incomplete Keyblade of People's Hearts. While most nobodies come into the realization of their past selves' memories and life, Roxas did not, only retaining the physical and metaphysical connections he had during his time as Sora. Because it was Sora’s love for Kairi that led the boy to stab himself, the resulting light manifested itself in Roxas’ ability to wield the element itself, as well as control over the Oathkeeper Keyblade. Since it was Riku’s darkness that removed Sora’s heart and created Roxas in the first place, the resulting darkness manifested itself within Roxas’ being, making him less corrupt than most of the other nobodies, as well as granting him control over the Oblivion Keyblade. Physically, he shares Sora's appearance of a teenage boy. Sora’s short time as a heartless denied Roxas of any memories prior to his birth, so when he was born at the gates of Twilight Town’s old mansion, he was quite confused, bewildered, and entirely lost. Seizing this chance for a new member, Xemnas appeared before Roxas not long before making his appearance before Sora, offering the boy a home, a family, a purpose, and most importantly, a name. Roxas was rather apprehensive about joining up with Organization XIII, but considering he really didn’t have any other perceivable options at the time, he decided to go along with it. Roxas turned out to be all at once the best and worst thing that ever happened to Organization XIII – they now had an agent that could wield the keyblade, and thus free the hearts trapped inside of heartless to complete Kingdom Hearts, but they also now possessed a member that was born from a strong-willed chosen of the Keyblade, one who had once possessed such a strong heart that he did not seem to follow the same rules as most other nobodies. Over time, Roxas befriended Axel, who had been charged to watch over Roxas, and Xion, who joined the Organization not long after he as its XIVth member. Throughout his time in the Organization, Roxas began to have visions of another boy - who turned out to be Sora - and began to question his existence and the reason he was able to wield the Keyblade. He eventually learned that Xion was a replica of himself, created from Sora's leaked memories, and that they were both being used by the Organization. Xion and Roxas were forced to fight one another after both defecting from Organization XIII, as Xion's purpose was to absorb the latter to become a complete copy of Sora, while Roxas was faced with absorption and losing his true self forever. Roxas was ultimately victorious, and absorbed Xion. Not long after, the former Number XIII, went off by himself to try and defeat Xemnas and "set Kingdom Hearts free," which was Xion's dying wish. Eventually, he also wanted find Sora, whom had since regained his human form and heart with the help of Kairi, had saved Kingdom Hearts, liberated Naminé from Castle Oblivion, and had been asleep for nearly a year. Before he could make much headway in this endeavor, he was confronted twice by Riku, besting the silver-haired friend of Sora’s the first time, and forcing him to unleash his power over the darkness and Xehanort’s power, which rested within him, the second. Riku knocked Roxas out and took him to DiZ, on account that Naminé was having problems restructuring Sora’s memories. Placed into a virtual Twilight Town put into Sora’s psyche, Roxas was forced to live out the rest of his days there, having dreams of Sora’s journey, and slowly recovering his own memory, which had been wiped when he was put in. Near the end of his time as a separate consciousness, the Organization finally succeeded in tracking him down, but with the help of DiZ, Riku, Naminé, and his own will to be whole, Roxas was able to stop their attempts to bring him back, even defeating Axel, accepting his fate for quite some time as part of Sora after he awakened. Roxas remains a part of Sora quietly for most of Sora’s second journey through the worlds, only really making his presence known when his friends are involved. He cried through Sora’s eyes when he had to part ways with Hayner, Pence and Olette, who he knew artificially in his time in Virtual Twilight Town, and was even pushed to fight Sora’s will with his own in an epic dual in the World that Never Was after Axel sacrificed himself to save them. Roxas showed himself twice more afterwards, both to Naminé when she exerted her self from Kairi’s being, both seemingly accepting their places as part of their true selves. Involvement The multiverse, however, had different plans for Roxas. A little while after Sora was sucked into the multiverse when it was first formed, Roxas found his way into it as well; however, he had lost just about all of his and Sora’s memories all over again, and was also a separate entity, once again an anomalous Nobody. Unfortunately, among the first to find him were Marluxia and Zexion, reborn members of Organization XIII, and two of the most manipulative. Instead of remembering his life as Sora first, he remembered his non-existence under the organization initially as a result, and that led him to once again follow their outlook on things. As time went on, however, he felt himself drawn somewhere and aspiring for more virtuous things – leading to him committing not only acts of villainy, but heroism as well. Roxas, like his other half, was always close at hand when something befell the multiverse – he had helped turn the tides and defeat the invasion of the Yol’Ari, helped match wits with Kerrigan to manage the rise of the Zerg, and even battling both good and evil as he searched for a purpose for himself, and a life without Sora. On one fateful evening, tragedy and poor luck led Roxas to the heart of Demon’s Ascent, which at the time had just been conquered and corrupted by the devil queen Etna. Unbeknownst to just about everyone, there lay within the heart of that world an entity known as Dark Seed, which infects the heart of whoever it comes into contact with, and feeds off of their darkness like a parasite. Unfortunately, Roxas came into contact with Dark Seed at the worst possible time – he had discovered that the multiverse had split Sora’s heart into two halves, one in the original’s possession which housed and focused all of the light, and his own which was mostly darkness. To top it all off, Sora had been fighting Zexion at the exact same time, and thus channeled all of the light within both halves into himself, thus stripping Roxas of any defense he might have been able to muster against Dark Seed’s corrupting influence. The aftermath of Roxas’ corruption changed the very face of the multiverse, as he began spreading his corrupted darkness throughout it by not only opening the hearts of several worlds, both good and evil-aligned, to it, but harvesting the hearts of several heroes and villains throughout the multiverse as well. Some of his most notable acts of evil with stripped completely of his light were bringing Zexion back after he had reclaimed his heart by slaughtering all of his friends, a lustful affair with Etna, creating his own “Neo Organization” from the seven nobodies he had created, and turning Tifa into a nobody by taking her heart on her wedding day. Even though several other occurrences, such as the rise of Drazhar, and the God Wars, went on during this time, just about everyone in the multiverse knew of Roxas, and either followed him or his ideals, or opposed him and feared of what he was capable. Sora began moves to counter all this, but it seemed as if he was always one step behind his nobody, making him seem unstoppable. It was also around this time that Roxas began to be known as the "Key of Darkness." At the pinnacle of his power and influence, Roxas helped orchestrate two of the largest battles the multiverse had ever seen. Allying with the forces of Xehanort’s Heartless, Xemnas, and what would later become the Cult of Kefka, the nobody led a successful assault on Tower’s Gate, which is where the Tower of Twilight stands today. Several heroes lost their lives that day, and in the end, Roxas and his allies were able to successfully secure the fortress, and use them as a springboard to attack the heroes’ base on the moon, the Sanctuary of Light. Once more, Roxas called upon other villainous factions to aid him, and after a gruesome battle in the courtyard of the Sanctuary itself, he finally came across Sora to finally settle the score. His aim would be to suppress Sora forcibly so he could win control over their entire heart, and thus become even more powerful before. After a long, drawn-out struggle, both boys knocked themselves out, and were placed in a chamber to recuperate their shattered heart and memories as Naminé had done to Sora after his adventure in Castle Oblivion. Six days went by while both boys were in a deep slumber, and even though the multiverse outside was being restored to its former but refreshed glory by Pestiss’ Wave, the minds and heart within the chamber were at war. They were placed in a new Virtual Twilight Town where they would have to work together to overcome the Dark Seed, which manifested itself in the form of various nobodies, heartless and other obstacles. Both knew that, at the end of their time there, they would have to fight one last time to claim Sora’s entire heart, and control of the combine power that came with it. On the seventh day, both boys were confronted with each other’s “Stations of Calling” which are characterized by stained-glass platforms, and an endless black abyss. Sora was forced to fight nobodies as Roxas had, and vice-versa. At the end, they met up, but were assaulted by the Dark Seed, which had reached its height in power, taking the form of a hybrid of Twilight Thorn Nobody and Darkside Heartless. Sora and Roxas, using the teamwork they had developed in their time in the Virtual Twilight Town, successfully defeated the creature, but it wouldn’t be content in being purged without taking one of the youths with it. It fell on both of them, slowly suffocating and destroying them with its darkness, and in the end, Roxas’ resistance to darkness made him the stronger, and Sora gave out first. The light-hearted boy made his darker half promise to protect Kairi in exchange for giving him his heart, and the power to rise out of the darkness and into the multiverse once more. Two boys were placed into the chamber, but only one emerged. Roxas found himself in a refreshed multiverse with a forced-upon duty, and a rival that was now apart of him. After a few bouts with once again finding no purpose for himself, he found that the real Kairi had entered the multiverse (the other one you guys are aware of was a doppelganger created by Zexion) and had to tell her the news of Sora’s fate. From there, Roxas was forced to make his decision by the hands of Zexion, who had become somewhat of a mentor figure during his time in the darkness. Cutting all ties with the Shadow-Walking Tactician and the darkness and evil he embodied, the keyblader rejoined with a group of his former minions and partners, and together, they began down the path to redemption. Roxas, Nixos, Sasuke and Solidus infiltrated Radiant Garden, which had been once again overrun by the forces of darkness, in order to finally restore Tifa to her whole self. While Solidus moved in to secure Xitana in the upper portions of the kingdom's ruined castle, the other three fought several gruelling battles to reach the castle's basement, where they eventually squared off against Tifa's Heartless. Roxas led both Sasuke and Nixos to solid victories against the heartless and nobodies that barred their path, and even to triumph over the lost fighter's heartless and liberated her from the castle depths. The group reunited with Solidus - who had Xitana's unconscious body with him - at Merlin's House, which was one of the few structures within the whole territory still standing. With much effort, Roxas and the others succeeded in calling Tifa's heart back from the abyss, and reunited her heartless and nobody in order to be the proper vessel that it once was. With Tifa restored, Nixos went off to find his own lost self, while Sasuke disappeared to deal with personal demons that had resurfaced during the push to secure Tifa's Heartless. The fight for Radiant Garden had only begun, however, as Tifa and Roxas partnered up shortly after to restore the world's heart to light. Not long after they departed for the castle - which was in ruin after an orbital bombardment by Solidus - the duo ran into Hexinis. Although the nobody had become quite enraged to see Tifa returned to normal, she was able to talk him, down, and he allowed Roxas to restore him as well. With another of his ex-organization members restored to his true self, Roxas pushed forward with Tifa toward the world's heart with new found determination. They soon excavated the ruins of the castle to find that the newly heart's keyhole's chamber was overflowing with darkness spawned by the two of them during their time as villains. After defeating droves of heartless, they managed to lock the world's heart away from darkness, and restored light to the world. Roxas emerged from the castle ruins with a new keyblade in his possession which symbolized the purified darkness in his heart: Rebirth. Not long after helping Tifa retake Radiant Garden, Roxas found his way to The Moon, where the Tower of Twilight was found to be in shambles. Most of the fortress' residential districts had been reduced to darkened shanty towns and thrown-together shacks. Despite saving a teen-aged girl named Mary who was being attacked by nobodies in one of these shanty towns, Roxas soon faced an angry mob of villagers emerged, shouting insults and shunning him because of his past. He faced the animosity from his sins directly for the very first time during that time, being called names such as "hero-killer," "murderer," and "monster." The boy's agitation reached a fevered pitch as they did not cease in their verbal attacks, but right when his anger began to manifest itself physically, Mary stepped in and led Roxas away to her home. It was there that the girl revealed her true nature - Naminé had used her powers to alter her appearance and implanted her "Mary" persona into the memories of the townspeople in order to watch Roxas when he arrived without incident. The two had a heated debate over the darkness that had fallen upon The Moon, and the multiverse at large, as well as the content of the keyblader's own heart. Naminé revealed to Roxas that Kefka, Luxord and Xehanort's Heartless had been the ones that had plunged The Moon into such turmoil, and even showed him the site where Paula sacrificed herself in order to keep the lunar body from being destroyed completely. In the end, Naminé convinced Roxas to take a renewed stand against the sins of the past - even those that were not his own - and he made his way into the depths of the Tower of Twilight itself. Roxas fought through several heartless and other dark creatures as he traversed through the catacombs below the Tower of Twilight, and when he finally located the door to the moon's heart, he found an old foe waiting for him. Dark Seed - having been reborn from the darkness spread over the moon's heart - barred Roxas' path, and looked upon him with Paula's stolen eyes. The two fought in a heated struggle that took them deep into the very core of the moon, where Roxas discovered that it had not one heart, but three: one for each of the wings, and one for the rest. All three hearts had been tainted, not only by the attack by the Harbingers, but also by Irvine Kinneas, who in his rage slew Luxord in cold blood in the Heart of Daybreak. Roxas summoned up the last bit of his strength after finally destroying his ex-parasite to restore balance to the moon's hearts; however, he didn't possess the kind of power necessary to undo the spiritual damage done by Irvine. The keyblader was transported then to Paula's apartment for their first direct meeting, where he found the girl unconscious because of her link to the moon's heart. After she awoke, the two had a lengthy conversation about what had transpired, and Roxas eventually departed after entrusting the psychic to finish what he had started. Word of they boy's actions began to fall upon the ears of the citizens who had shunned him, and Roxas then began to be called the "Key of Regret." The boy's journey then led him to various other worlds that had been plunged into darkness, either by himself, or by others. Notably, Roxas managed to change The World That Never Was back into Bevelle after a fated battle with Xehanort, who had become whole after subduing Xemnas and using Kingdom Hearts' power to find his heart. After felling Xehanort yet again, Roxas finally made amends for destroying Bevelle before the Refresh, having turned it into a giant Dark Corridor at the time. Soon afterward, a couple of familiar hearts once again called him back to the moon. In the midst of all the reconstruction of Tower of Twilight, Roxas once again ran into Kairi. The Princess of Heart had grown quite a lot in power since the last time they had seen one another, and after showing her a few advanced techniques using her light, Roxas revealed to Kairi that she would have to eventually face Naminé - her wayward nobody. They had an intense discussion about the girl's readiness for such a weighty confrontation, but she eventually convinced him that she was indeed prepared. Upon bestowing Kairi with a fragment of Naminé's leaked essence - which had found its way to him in a quite strange series of events - Roxas sent her off to Twilight Town, leaving her with one final warning to only confront Naminé when she was absolutely certain of her resolve. The second familiar heart Roxas had felt turned out to be Sion's, which resided within the reborn Nixos. Despite having decided to find the path of redemption like Roxas had, Sion had apparently fallen sway to his infatuation for Tifa. He had unfortunately bore witness to Tifa rekindling an old flame with Cloud, and had succumbed to his darker self in order to deal with the rage and pain within his heart. Roxas berated his former second-in-command for falling so easily to his old ways, and Nixos only retorted that light was making both of them weak. After a short scuffle, Roxas gained control over Nixos' keyblades, and shattered their keychains as a message - Sion would not be worthy of wielding the weapons until he had made peace with himself. For quite awhile afterward Roxas became a wanderer, seeking to keep balance in the multiverse, and continuing to right the wrongs of his past. Amidst his wanderings, he found the solitary seashell within the pocket of his old Organization XIII coat, but had no recollection of where it came from. Considering he had the sum total of both his and Sora's memories, not recalling something that seemed so significant struck him as odd. He sought out Naminé, but could not find her within her white room within Twilight Town's Old Mansion. Assuming that she had become one with Kairi, he then journeyed to the next best place - Castle Oblivion. In a strange twist of fate, Roxas did not find answers within the castle of memories, but more questions. He also found himself in two life-or-death battles. The first was with Xaldin, who had recently re-appeared from obscurity in the multiverse, and had apparently just been departing Castle Oblivion when Roxas arrived. Although bearing no direct ill will toward one another, Roxas' history with the Organization was something that could not be ignored by the former Key of Destiny, and the Whirlwind Lancer sought to beat answers out of Roxas upon finding out that the boy had regained his heart but kept his own form. Xaldin fought viciously for the answers he sought, but in the end was banished back to the darkness by Roxas, who replied in sincerity to just about everything asked, but did not give out the content that was desired. After moving up through most of the upper floors of Castle Oblivion, Roxas had little answers to his own question, and found his second fated battle waiting for him. Xemnas and Xehanort's Heartless were found conspiring near the top floor of the castle, the latter having found the former to initiate some dark scheme. Xemnas discounted association with his heartless, but did claim to have found answers to questions about his own past, and about Roxas'. A card produced from Xemnas' memories brought the three of them to what appeared to be a Keyblade Graveyard, and it was there that Roxas had his final battle with the Seeker of Darkness' two halves. Roxas found himself struggling to keep up with both foes as they continued to attack him and refer to him as names that he had not heard of previous - Vanitas and Ventus. Thoroughly confused by the backdrop of their battle, and the apparent memories of which he had no recollection, they keyblader resolved to instead focus upon the battle at hand. After drawing upon all of his latent powers upon remembering the sacrifices of Axel and Xion - who he finally remembered to be the source of the seashell - Roxas turned the tide against Xemnas and Xehanort's Heartless, injuring both of them badly, and pushing them to become whole once again. Xehanort emerged as a full being once more, with the ability to wield a keyblade, which had been a long-forgotten skill usable by the dark seeker all along. Despite his new powers, Xehanort ultimately fell to Roxas who had to draw upon all of Sora's strength on top of his own. The Lingering Sentiment tried to step in and take the kill for himself, but was stabbed at the same time as Xehanort, revealing that it was being held together by nothing more by the fragments of a heart. Two hearts emerged from Xehanort's body, and Roxas destroyed Xehanort's, finally ridding the multiverse of the dark man's insanity for good. Inadvertently, Roxas had restored the heart to the body of a mysterious man known as Terra through his actions. Xehanort's heart was discovered to not be native to the body it had just been overcome within, but the boy was unable to ask any more questions. Although recognizing Terra somehow, Roxas fell unconscious due to fatigue and his wounds, and when he awoke, the man was gone. Some time later, Roxas was contacted by Naminé, who had actually found a similar fate as he upon facing her old self. When Kairi had eventually found her and faced her, the two had begun to rejoin; however, Kairi's worry about Sora caused a moment of weakness during the process. This weakness caused Naminé's will to win out, and she became whole, absorbing Kairi's consciousness and body into herself, while retaining her own autonomy and form. Much to Roxas' surprise, Naminé had departed from her room within the Twilight Town Old Mansion, and had been searching for him so she could begin to be an active force within the multiverse. With a newfound sense of duty to Naminé, and many unanswered questions as to who Terra was, and of "Vanitas" and "Ventus," Roxas journeyed off with the witch to The End of the World. Drawn there by an unknown force, he sought to train her there intensively, and to unearth the secrets of what the broken world once was. After battling through the entirety of the Abysmal World, the duo was able to restore the world to what it once was - the Daybreak Beach. On the banks of Daybreak Beach, Roxas found that Sora and Xion had regained separate bodies, but only long enough for them and Namine to search the depths of their hearts for the truth of his existence. Riku - after a long time journeying by himself - also finally re-emerged, and all of them reconnected the pieces of a forgotten past. Roxas was actually part of someone named Ventus, looking identical to Ventus because his heart had been inside Sora all along. After Xion and Sora said their goodbyes and rejoined with Roxas, he, Riku, and Namine traveled to Castle Oblivion, where Roxas could feel his true self's body residing. The trio fought through the memory-empowered castle, battling their own inner demons and facing sides of themselves they had tried to ignore and run away from. In the end, Roxas realized why the memories were being shown to them - it was test and a preparation. Ventus' heart was re-awakening within Roxas, and he needed to realize that it was the bonds that he formed that gave him true power; something that Sora always knew. In the end, they reached the Chamber containing Ventus' body; Riku stabbed Roxas with the Way to Dawn, unlocking Ventus' heart and giving it the last push it needed to be restored completely. After a decade of slumber, Ventus re-awakened, and gave Sora his heart back. There had been a priced to be paid though - they would have to give something up to gain something, and Sora and Ventus both agreed to give up all of the power they had regained in the multiverse instead of leaving behind their memories. Powers and Capabilities Stat-wise, Roxas is a fairly balanced character. He uses all four vitals evenly - something rarely seen in the RP - and is competent in both follower-based and one-on-one combat. His equipment, techniques, and abilities are built around hitting fast and hard, while using DP in tandem with decent defenses to take the edge off of most incoming attacks. While he doesn't have the +DP to dodge, or status capabilities, of most newer characters, his focus on damage and defense make him a hard character to break. RP-Wise, from the time he was born until his fight with Sora in the World that Never Was, Roxas possesses a rather aggressive fighting style. Save for when he is in the Virtual Twilight Town within Sora’s head, he focuses very little on defense, aiming more to disable and beat his opponents with a nearly-endless flurry of dual-slashes, magical bursts of both light and dark elements, and acrobatic assaults the keep the enemy guessing. Presently, Roxas has developed a style of swordplay that incorporates elements of Sora’s style into his own. While still preferring the edge of wielding two keyblades instead of just one, it is mostly because he can use them for both offense and defense, and use one while the other is sailing through the air. Additionally, since Roxas has access to Sora’s memories and keychains now, he is able to mix and match his keyblades for what the combat situation demands, and even alternate between single and dual-wield styles depending on his needs. Finally, even though his control over darkness and nobodies isn’t what it used to be, he can still summon Samurai Nobodies and Dark Corridors at will, while also unleashing just about all of Sora’s light-based techniques and abilities. Being adept at both light and darkness, Roxas is now capable of sensing the varying levels of both forces within others, as well as in the environment around him. Quotes "You're really willing to let it all go... just for her?! I wanted to beat you fair and square, and I wanted to claim our heart and body on my own terms! This isn't how I was supposed to become whole... and wasn't how you were supposed to fade away. You're a moron, Sora, and now we're both paying for it, so I hope you're happy." -Roxas, to Sora, just before becoming whole. "I've given up that life. For better or worse, Sora's heart is affecting me, and I can't follow you down the path of oblivion anymore because of it. So, we're either going to just walk away now, or you're not going to walk away at all." -Roxas to Zexion after the latter came with a proposition to join forces again. Trivia See also * Ventus * Paula * Aqua * "Ansem" External links * External link Category:Player Characters Category:Retired Category:Dropped Characters